


The Strange Case of Kisten Tamwood

by Centauromachy



Category: The Hollows - Kim Harrison
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 01:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3791179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Centauromachy/pseuds/Centauromachy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set about 10 years after The Witch With No Name but actually diverges from Kim Harrisons story-line at the end of Pale Demon with Bis taking Rachel to Ivy instead of Trent. The first Part at least will be told from David Hue's perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Background:  
-It’s been a fairly quiet decade. Except for the Vamp Cold War that started when Rachel assassinated Rynn Cormel and his supporters after he had his people try to kill   
Ivy, to force Rachel to come up with a way to let vampires keep their souls after their first death.  
-The Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards had lost a lot of power with when so many of their members were killed or in a mental hospital.  
Into that power vacuum stepped Trenton Kalimack and The Elves.  They came out to the public in a big way by pledging to finance the rebuilding of San Francisco.    
-Between Al terrorized Cinci for Piscary and Ku’sox tearing up San Francisco Anti-Inderland hate crimes are at an all time high,  
-After the election of Anti-interland president all of the Inderland communites have been quietly organizing more, especially the Were's.  
-Rachel steps down as Alpha female because she feels she didn't have the time to fully devote herself to the roll. Taking up the Omega* female position instead.  
"The Omega position in a Were-pack is almost always a position for a former Alpha. Before the last couple centuries changes in Were leadership were typically bloody affairs and often resulted in a pack split. But as humanity became more civilized a few forward thinking Alphas created the Omega potion to allow for a smoother leadership transition. The older Alpha would step aside into the Omega position and act as an adviser to the new Alpha.

Chapter 1  
It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to come together with my pack and run together under the Full Moon.  We’ve been planning this for several months kind of a group vacation and pack meeting all rolled into one.  We were camping in the Old Shawnee State Forest outside of Portsmouth, OH. My Godson Kisten Tamwood had joined us, his mothers Rachel and Ivy Tamwood had joined us also for the first night. But some urgent Vampire business had come up and he begged his mothers to let him stay, so I promised to keep an eye on him and bring him back with me. The kid looks remarkably like Rachel, with his red hair and freckles even though he doesn't share a drop of DNA with her. They both were very reluctant to have biological children with Rachel being a genetic Demon and Ivy concerned about her undead mother they instead found a couple of witches to donate an egg and sperm. I'd asked them once why they didn't just adopt, Rachel had mumbled something about me not being able to understand because I'm male.   
I'd contacted the Portsmouth pack and the local head vampire to have them get the word out to the local Inderland community and let them know that there was going to be a visiting pack in the old park.  The last thing I want is the pack to stubble on some strange pack or vampires doing God only knows what out here.   
So as dawn just begins to lighten the eastern sky, I start to heading back to camp and wake Kist up with wet wolf kiss.  So I’m pleasantly surprised when I catch a familiar scent of vampire  and rosewood and I think that maybe Rachel and Ivy have decided to join us after all, but then I catch the scent of a strange were.  After another moments thought I realize that while the vampire and rosewood scents are very similar to Rachel and Ivy’s scents they’re not quite right.  I contact Serena and Kally telepathically (one of several little tricks I've learned from the Focus) and have them start to gather the pack while I move into investigate and check on Kisten.  
I’m not to worried about the kid while he doesn't have much more magical ability than a human wizard the kid is smart as whip, he’s been practicing martial arts with Ivy since he could walk and he’s knows to use  his bubble charm at the first hint of danger.  Plus he has Rachel’s old splat gun, so even though he’s only 13 he’s one tough kid.  Between his own abilities and the magical and non-magical tripwires we set up around the camp, none of which have gone off the kid should be relatively safe. We also hired the local clan of wild pixies to watch the camp.  
So as I stealthily approach his tent, I stretch out my senses listening for the sound of anything moving around, the faintest movement or the scents of anyone else nearby.  I don’t pick up anything just the same strangely familiar scent of vampire, rosewood and were.  As I peer into Kisten's tent,  I see his sleeping bag torn is to shreds, along with the clothes he was wearing when we left, but there’s no blood so that’s a good sign.  The scent of vampire, rosewood and were is very strong here along with fear and confusion.  I notice a trail of paw prints leading away from the tent but strangely none approaching it and they lead towards our large bonfire.    
Serena and Kally let me know they've gathered most of the pack, I tell them to have everyone surround our camp to make sure no one leaves the area and to be ready to charge in I call out for them.   I tap into the power of the Focus and stretch my senses out further, in addition to my own heartbeat I only ear one more nearby, further out I can sense my pack just beyond even a Master Vampire’s senses, but they’re MY pack and we share a bond.  I cautiously follow the trial towards the fire, all the while scanning the camp around me looking for Kist or a clue as to what happened.  All the while prepared for someone or something to attack me, because even though there’s only one other beating heart nearby doesn't mean there isn't something else out there.  The undead can be as still as the dead until they strike.  
The other heartbeat is coming from my ‘throne ‘ as Serena and Kally like to call it, an old oversized battered leather chair I picked up at a garage sale a couple years ago, just for these trips.  What’s the point of be really strong if don’t use it make your life more comfortable.  Curled up on it is a young were who’s coat is so dark it almost seems to absorb the light from the bonfire.  I circle to approach him head on.  At first I think he must be asleep because I cant’s see his eyes but then he blinks and I realize that he’s eyes are vampire black and when he yawns it seems his canines are a little bigger and longer than is typical for such a young were.  
A vampire were?? The thought flashed through my mind, but no it can’t be.  Everyone knows the vampire virus doesn't work on weres anymore that it does witches.  Then I start to wonder if maybe this is some new demon creation but what would be the point?? Besides ever since Rachel recreated the Everafter it’s a virtual paradise and so they don’t answer summons very much anymore.  In addition he’s just lying there curled in my chair not set to pounce and to top it off there’s no burnt amber smell. I slowly approach my chair and I let out a low menacing growl that’s made even a few undead vampires take notice.  He just lays there strangely unafraid it doesn’t seem to be a confidence like he thinks he could take me, it’s more like a child’s confidence in someone they trust implicitly. As I get closer it becomes clear that the scent of vampire, redwood and were are coming from this young were, who seems strangely familiar.  It’s still seems strange to me even after all these years how much information I can glean thought my scenes with the help of the focus, even things that would seem to be intangible.  
Just as I’m about the close within biting range I catch the faint gleam of sunlight reflecting off a ring on this young were’s front right paw and I froze for a heartbeat that’s Kisten’s ring but only Rachel or Ivy are supposed to be able to take it off.  Then with a deep sniff I catch that scent that is uniquely Kisten underneath the vampire, redwood and were and pulling deeply on the Focus I shift back to human form almost instantaneously.  “Kisten?”  I crocked.  Man even with pulling on the Focus’s  power shifting that quickly HURTS!! Clearing my throat I try again much clearer this time “Kisten? is that you?” I ask as I lay my hand on the young were he raises his head and looking my straight in my eyes nods.  “What happened?” I ask “did you take a potion to so you could were?” still looking me straight in eyes he shakes his head no “Did someone do this to you?” now he kind of dips his head trying to shrug his shoulders I think “you don’t know?”  now he nods his head in the affirmative.  The longer I look into those vampire black eyes, the more I start to feel the Focus’s consciousness start to stir in my brain.    
Just then I notice the sharp sound of dragonfly wings and I watch as Jehosophat Jenkson, Kisten’s constant companion makes an erratic entrance and lands on the back of my chair clearly exhausted. “JeJ!” I exclaimed and the little pixie-were holds up a finger telling me to wait. After it becomes obvious that the pint size warrior is keeping me waiting longer than is necessary to catch his breath, I start to growl at him under my breath and just like that he gives me a big smile and flips me off.  My shoulders loose some of the tension they’ve had the last few minutes because there’s no way JeJ would be messing with me if Kisten was really in trouble.    
“So what happened to Kist?” I ask when it became obvious he was too busy grinning at me to volunteer information.    
“umm he were’d, David” JeJ said like it happened all the time.  “You’re like king of the were’s, I would think you’d be able to recognize the signs, like Kist turning into to wolf.”    
“Obviously” I say exasperated “but how did it happen?”    
“oh that, I have no idea” the little pixie-were said clearly enjoying himself.    
Taking a deep breath I try again “ok so tell me what you do know about this” waving my hand at Kisten.     
“Well about 10min before true midnight as I was just about to turn in for my evening rest, I heard a pained moan come from Kist's sleeping bag so I flew down to check it out and tried calling his name and bouncing up and down on him figuring this was another one of his practical jokes, then the moans got loader and it started to sound like someone was change in there but it still smelled like Kist, except that it also started to smell like were, next thing I know he's ripping that sleeping bag and his clothes to shreds and then with a great shake he's free of all of and lo and behold he's a were.”   
“ok but how did you know he was Kist?” I asked still trying to get ALL the information out of him.   
“oh thats easy” the little pixie-were said “first he still smelled like Kist, mostly except that he now smelled like a were also, his aura was pretty much the same, he's still has his ring on and he knew his code word.”   
“what do you mean aura is pretty much the same are you saying it's different?” I ask concernedly   
“yes and no” he says as he waffles his outstretched palm from side to side   
“which is it yes or no” I ask through gritted teeth. I swear trying to get coherent information out of a pixie is like trying to pull a rabid were's canines.   
“calm down, don't get your panties in bunch” he exclaims “it's no difference than when you or any other were changes, there's a subtle difference in your aura between your two forms and don't ask me to explain it, it's to difficult to put into lunker words.”   
“Ok, so what about this scent? He smells of vampire and redwood.” I say.   
“Oh that” he answers brightly “that's just Aunties Rache and V you're smelling on him.”   
“No” I state firmly “it's very similar to Rachel and Ivy but it's not exactly them. It's almost as if...”  
“Oh it them all right” he interrupts nervously “trust me, it's them.” he says and winks at me”  
“Well what about he ey..”  
“Perfectly normal” he says and winks at me again.  
OK note to self drop the subject of his scent and eyes with the pixie-were, I'll just have to discuss it with Rachel or Ivy when we get back. As far has his ring goes I do remember Rachel telling me once that it would grow as he grew so no reason why it wouldn't grow as he were'd. Who would have thought that spend some quality time with my godson at a were outing would turn out so interesting.  
“so you're sure this is Kisten?” I ask JeJ   
“absofreakinlutely” he states “100 %, well maybe 99.99% or 99.95% no 99.97% no...”   
As he tries to figure out what fraction of a percent of doubt he has, I reach out for Serena and Kally they inform me that every is back and they're all just waiting for me to let them know what's up. I assure them that everything is ok that I'm find and Kist is fine but we need to have a little privacy and to let everyone know they go for a run or whatever but to stay away from the group camp area until I sound the all clear. I turn my attention back to Kisten and ask  
“ok let me get this straight this has never happened before tonight?” he raise he head off his paws again looks at me with those vampire black eyes and nods.  
“next question do you have any idea how this happened?” he shakes his head in the negative  
I can tell that even though he's taking this remarkably well, he is still a little scared not mind nubbing so but still a bit, so I start talking to the kid in a soothing voice.  
“alright then have you tried to change back?” He chocks his head and looks at me as if to say 'duhh, of course I tried.' I chuckle softly “Ok dumb question. But it's not like changing with a spell, you have to...” I spend the next 10 min or so trying to talk Kisten through the Change but to no avail. “Well then so for the easy way. Kist I want to try something else, before we contact your moms, but I need you to trust me OK?” another nod in the affirmative “great, you've seen how I can reach out and touch Serena and Kally's minds right?” he nods “that's what I want to try and do with you OK?” nods “it usually easier with someone I already have a bond with but I have done this with a few orphaned were's that were going through their first change. They tend to get lost in the wolf and have a hard time getting back.” so with that explanation I reach out with the power of the focus and touch his mind which is surprisingly easy to do and just as that thought crosses my mind Gus the name I've given to the consciousness of the Focus screams “MIINNNEEEEE” and tries to leap out and into the Kisten. I abruptly break contact with my Godsons mind and leap back. Then I give Gus a massive mental blow to the gut, as I stand there in my mindscape staring down at Gus's wolf form I'm seething with rage, every muscle in body (my mental body anyway) is taunt with anger. Trying to get my anger under control “We haven't had a problem like that in years, Gus” I say between ragged breaths “what the HELL do you think you were doing?”   
“he's mine” Gus whined  
“NO” I state firmly “He's The Witch's son” I say putting special emphasize on 'The Witch'. I haven't had to threaten Gus with Rachel since the first couple years after I became the Focus's host.   
“The W-W-Witch? Gus stammers softly clearly afraid   
“Yes and like any mother protecting her cub, she will do WHATEVER she feels is necessary to protect him.”  
“She wouldn't hurt you David, you're her Alpha” Gus says softly  
“To protect the ones she loves, there is nothing she won't do. She'd rip you out, put you back into a statue and then bury you so deep you'd never see the light of the moon again. Even if it meant shedding my mind in the process, if I tried to resist.” I state with absolute certainty and give an involuntarily shudder as I remember what happened to Rynn Cormel after his people tried to kill Ivy, to force Rachel to come up with a way to let vampires keep their souls after their first death.  
'I'm sorry David” he says as he rolls over on his back clearly exposing his throat and belly in sign of submission “but he is a part of me”  
Now that threw me for a loop but all I said was “we'll discuss this later”  
When I returned my attention to Kisten and JeJ, I caught JeJ and Kisten staring at me like I'd grown a third eye.   
“What??” I ask a bit sharper than I intended, obvious still a little on edge about what Gus tried to do.  
“umm David, who were you talking to?” JeJ asked quizzically  
I stare at him blankly for a second, then it clicks I must have been talking out loud to Gus “The Focus” I reply embarrassed “but that's not important. What IS important is that I don't think I'm going to be able to help you change back right now, Kist. So I think we're going to need to call your moms...”   
“I'm going to go get my phone, call your moms and then get some clothes on. You two just stay here.” But before I get half way to my tent JeJ lands on my shoulder and gives my ear a little tug to get my attention. “What's up?” I ask “why did you stay with Kist? you know he's a little freaked out.”   
“I need to give you a code phrase to tell Aunt Rache when you call her” he states firmly  
Ever since a high ranking member of the FIB turned out to be a HAPA member, we all been a little more circumspect with our phone conversions, just in case they're being tapped illegally.  
“umm, I know Ivy likes to plan things out but there is no way even she should have a code for this situation. I'd just planned on using my burner phone.” I inform him  
He laughs softy at little dig on Ivy. But to be honest that's one of the things I've always admired about her.  
“No not this exact situation, but it does follow under a specific contingency plan.” He says  
“And that would be...?” I ask when it becomes apparent he's not going to continue without a little prodding.  
“Julius” He states  
“which means what?” I ask for a pixie even a pixie-were he's pretty tight lipped. His father Jenks could hardly keep a secret, though to be honest I think he mostly does it just to embarrass Rachel and Ivy.  
“I can't say, please just text 'Julius' to Aunties Rache or V's primary cell on your burner and then just follow the instructions they give you.” he states firmly  
I just shake my head ruefully at the extent of the cloak and dagger routine but then again I haven't been fighting a Vamp Cold war for the last decade. So once I reach my tent and get my phone I text 'Julius' to Ivy figuring she's more likely to recognize my burner's number and start to get dressed. Not 30 seconds later I get a text back that says 'come to you? or you come here?' I stare at it a moment trying to figure out exactly what she's asking.   
Then JeJ says “they want to know if so urgent they need to come or if you can take Kist to them”   
“Thanks” I mutter under my breath feeling a little foolish for not figuring it out myself.  
“denada, Davey” He beams at me  
Shaking my head resignedly, I reply back to the text with 'come there'  
A few seconds later their reply says 'meet where you received your gift'  
This time it's JeJ that's stumped “Where you received your gift? What gift?” he asks quizzically   
“The Focus” I reply, “they mean their old church in the Hollows”   
I type back 'confirmed 3 hr' and almost instantly I get 'OK'   
Now that I was dressed and we had a plan I walk over to Kisten and fill him in on where we're going.

“JeJ will you change, then pack up Kist tent and put it in my truck?” I ask  
“Sure but I want to check out your truck first.”   
sighing I walk over and open the door to let the 4in guardian for bug or whatever else he thinks might somehow have been planted in my truck since it's been here. Paranoid? I thought, Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.* So I let the little guy have at without a word. Once he's done with his inspection, he lands over by Kisten tent reaches down touches his belt buckle and with a flash of light where there was once a 4in pixie-were now stood 6ft tall young man about Kisten's age, with dark hair, violet eyes and swarthy complexion, clothes and all. I turned my attention to my truck laid the backseat down, laid out a blanket for Kisten to lay on.   
“Kist, why don't come on over and hop up into the backseat for the trip back home.”  
After he's settled in my truck, he gives me a sorrowful look with those vampire eyes, so I reach down and scratch him behind the ears.  
“I'm sure your moms will be able to figure this out, they're a pair of really smart ladies” I tell him reassuringly  
After JeJ and I have all of Kist and my stuff packed in the bed of my truck, I contacted Serena and Kally again. To let them know that I'm leaving to taking Kisten home and to go ahead and let the pack head home or stay out here for the rest of the week.  
“JeJ will you drive for a while? I need to have conversation with the Focus”  
“uhh sure David... umm so the Focus is alive?”   
“sort of” I reply “its hard to explain, as Rachel about it sometime. She got some interesting theories on it.”  
“if I mumble or seemingly start talking to myself just ignore me.” I say as I close the passenger side door.  
“Okie dokie, Davy will do.”  
And with that I lean back, close my eyes turn my attention to a long talk with Gus.


	2. Chapter 2

Buzz buzz   
Stupid phone I mutter it’s way too early for it to be going off.  
“Yawn Who is it?” My lover asks  
“It's from David's burner.” With that realization we're both awake   
“It's Julius protocol”   
“get dressed” she exclaims as she practically leaps off our bed “and I can jump us there in minutes.”  
“Hang on” I say also trying not to act rashly “David isn’t in the loop for Julius protocol. So JeJ must have told him and they didn’t include an emergency protocol.  So let's take a breath and see if we need to go there or if they can come to us.” Anticipating her argument, “remember only the girls and David know you can jump the lines. That's been a huge advantage for us, without a clear emergency, we should keep it that way. You know David loves Kist like he's his own he'll protect our son with his dying breath.”  
“True, Fine” she says in a huff,  
So I lean over kiss her and say “I'm worried about him too.”  
“I know you are.” She says slightly mollified   
I quickly type out  
come to you? or you come here?  
to which I get come there  
“Ok he's says he can come to us.  Where should we meet him?” I ask   
“Here?” My beloved asks  
“Hmmm, No we need somewhere away from ALL prying eyes and ears Magical, technological or otherwise.”  
“The Crypt” we both say a moment later  
“But he doesn’t know about the Crypt. Ok we need to tell him where to meet us but in a way that only he would know what it means.” I say  
“It is where he received the Focus, so tell him it’s where I cursed him.” She says  
“Sigh, you know HE doesn’t think of it that way.”  
“I know, it’s just…”  
“Just that you wish you could go through life without having to involve our friends in anything that might get them hurt.”  
“you know me so me, my love” Rachel say warmly  
“And you me” I respond sultry “but we need to get back to the matter at hand.  So how about this…”  
Where you received your gift  
“I think that’ll work”  
“Eta is approx. 3 hours, so that should put them back here around 10 and 11.”  
“Ok do you thing we should have Sen and Nixie pull doppelganger duty or just use my Bueller spell?”  
“Your Bueller spell should be fine, besides Dad and Erica gotten are used to having pixies in the house when we’re here, so their absence would be noticed.”  
“You know we are going to have to tell them about this at some point?”  
“We can discuss this once we’re in the Crypt.”  
“Fine. We’d best get ready then.”  
I love traveling the lines with my Dear Heart because for an instant we’re one, one heart, one mind, one soul, it’s almost as nice as when we share blood.  
About half an hour later with both dressed in our working leathers and ready to go. Our arms go about each other’s waist and in the blink of an eye we’re standing in front of the weeping angel on ole casper’s grave and surrounded by a veritable wall of pixies.  
“Don’t move you lunkers!” “What are you doing in our graveyard?” “Who sent you?” “Someone get, Jenks” “What’s the password?” “There is no password dolt” on and on the questions when right over the top of each other, ‘I’m getting a migraine’ I think  
“JENKS!!!!!” Rachel bellows  
“Tink’s little red panties what the heck is going on here?” our old partner ask  
And of course it seems like every pixie tries to answer him at the exact same time.  So I take a very deep breath and putting both forefingers in my mouth and let out a whistle load and long. This surprises the bugs enough to make them shut up long enough for Jenks to make his way through.  
“Rache!, Ivy!” He exclaims once he makes his way through the wall of pixies “I haven’t seen you two in weeks!” He pauses and asks “Are y’all hot?”  
“No, Jenks” I answer  
Rachel of course says with a grin “Oh yeah have you ever seen a hotter couple than us, Jenks?” Then proceeds to cock her hip suggestively and winks, which has half the pixies laughing so hard that a few of them drop a couple feet before catching themselves.  
“That’s my girls!” Jenks says laughingly “So what brings y’all by, looking for new recruits?”  
“Not yet Sen and Nixie are working out great. Let’s talk inside it’s about Julius” I say  
“Alright everyone get back to it, Jacki go tell your papa that Rache and Ivy are home.”  
‘Home’ yes this will probably always be 'home' for us no matter how much it’s changed  
“Yes, g-pa” the cute little dark haired pixie girls says.  
“G-pa?” Rachel asks  
“Yeah, she’s one of Jumoke’s kids.” Jenks proclaims proudly  
As we walk through the graveyard and up to the spelled glass green house (that now encloses the witch’s garden behind our old church) it still hits me just how much this place has changed since last lived here.  It’s almost like it’s not the same place anymore, but as Rachel always reminds me as long as we’re together we’re home.  
When I step inside, I’m still amazed how Matalina’s Place (as we come to call the greenhouse) exudes serenity, even though the one at Tamwood Estate is bigger, the scents, the sounds, the very essence of this place never fails to have a soothing effect on me.  Since we have a little time we sit and exchange pleasantries with Jumoke and his family catching up on all the latest gossip. Seeing the pixie children playing makes Rachel and I a little wistful of those wonderful years we had together here in our church. Winona, eventually comes out with a couple cups of coffee for us and we all have a pleasant chat to pass the time until David gets here with Kisten. It's so nice just to sit and chat with friends no politics, no crisis, no agenda just sit and talk about normal life. So much so that we lose track of time and next thing I know my phone vibrates  
Here. Next Door  
I quickly type out K wait will send instruction  
I look over at Rachel and eyes meet and I give an almost imperceptible nod.  
With that silent agreement Rachel takes point, since the church is basically her workshop now.  
“We hate to cut this short, because it's been really great catching up with you all and it's so rare we get a chance to do that these days.” Rachel said mournfully “But we did come here to take care of some business.”  
“Jenks, Winona would you please join us inside?” Rachel inquires  
“sure” they both say  
“Jumoke, would you keep everyone else out of the church until we're done?” Rachel asks  
“Roger wilco Rache” the dark haired pixie says  
Once we're inside Rachel closes and seals the door with a whisper and just that fast all sound from outside is cut off. I turn to the keypad next to the door and set the alarm for the doors and windows. Ever since Rachel killed Cormell and we Tamwoods took over Cincinnati, we've been mixing magic and technology for security. I still find it amazing how so many people assume they're going to deal with only magical or technological security rarely both and even rarer mixed together.  
Rachel turns to Winona and says “I'm sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff but..”  
“No problem, you told me when I asked you teach me magic that there would be times like this” Winona says interupting  
“Thanks, we're going downstairs please stay up here and make sure no one disturbs up” Rachel says  
We repeat the process several more times to open the doors until we're in the little security office in the basement.  
“ok I'm going to pull up the aura-cam video and see what we got. Computer shows three aura's a pixie and two were's?” I stated confused “Pixie is 98.3% match for JeJ, Adult human form were is 97.9% match for David and the juvenile were in wolf form is 95.1% match for Kisten??? What the hell???” I exclaim I turn to Rachel with a raised eyebrow.  
“I'm as stunned as you, my love. The same terrible thought is running through my head as well. But as you are always telling me, we can't jump to conclusion without all the facts. I suggest we let them in and then we'll be able to better tell.”  
“You're right we'll let them come all the way to the door and then hit them with sleepy time gas. Sound good to both of you?” I asked  
“Yes” they both answered  
With a plan decided on, I type out a quick text to David's phone  
Enter code, use tunnel, enter code again  
About about an hour later after we've checked them out thoroughly for any compulsions magical or otherwise and Rachel has checked Kisten for anything that might explain his were'ing.  
“Anything?” I ask nervously  
“No, I don't sense anything spells or curses on him. I can sense his natural vampire magics, along with his witch magic, which I still don't understand and natural were magic.”  
“Natural were magic?”  
“Yes, it feels very much like every other were's magic, not like Serena and Kally.”  
“And you've never had any indication of this were magic in him before?”  
She just looks at me and tries to my eyebrow raise but even after all these years she still can't pull it off. It never fails to bring a smile to my face every time she tries though.  
“sorry, stupid question” I say a little sheepishly  
of course she hasn’t. she would have told me if she had. That the cornerstone of our relationship 'no secrets, no matter what'  
“With his ability to use magic and now this were'ing, I'm starting to wonder if I didn’t subconsciously cursed him in my womb.” she says glumly  
“Is that even possible?”  
“I have no idea. I've used my magic instinctively before but that was just pure line energy not a complex spell.”  
“Is there anyone we can ask?”  
“Not really Newt is/was the only female demon around but I'm not to keen on summoning her to ask. But for Kisten I will.” she says with a shudder  
“Well why don't we ask Winona to see if she can find anything in the library first?” I suggest, also not wanting to get Newt involved  
“I like that idea much better. So what's next o' mistress of planning?”  
“hmmm, what do you think, Jenks? You've been awfully quite through all of this.”  
“That's because it's not my place to tell y'all what to do about your son. Y'all know I love Kist like he's one of my own. But he is your all’s son, so you two have to make the decision that you think are best for him. But if your asking what we should do next, I'd say we talk to each of them separately with your lie-detector amulet out.”  
“Dont you think, we're going a little overboard with all this don’t you think, beloved?” Rachel ask  
“Probably but where Kisten is concerned, I'm perfectly prepared to go a little crazy and then beg forgiveness afterward if needed.”  
with a soft chuckle she says “yeah, me too. I just don't like to think about what I'm willing to do to protect you all, It scares me.”  
Pulling her into a tight embrace, I lean down letting my lips find hers and kissing her gently yet passionately. I try and show her in this one kiss all my own worry for our son, my worries that we'll hurt our friends in our desire to protect him, my endless love of her, of our life together, my admiration of her, my knowledge that together we can survive anything. After that kiss we're both a little breathless. But know we have to still have lots to do I ask  
“Ready?”  
“Yes”


	3. Chapter 3

We wake JeJ up first since it's almost impossible to subvert the will of a pixie.  
“TINK LOVES A DUCK!!! Sleepy time gas?? really??...”  
“JeJ...” I say trying to explain   
“we followed all the procedures, entered all the correct pass codes...”  
“JeJ...” I tried again but just like his dad, when he gets on a roll, it's nearly impossible to get a word in until he runs out of breath. So I just look a Jenks and raise an eyebrow to say 'you want to help me out here?'   
“did everything by the book and you STILL hit us with sleepy time gas?!?!  
“JEHOSAPHAT!” Jenks bellowed  
“yes papa?” the pixie-were said in a small voice  
“I know getting knocked out with sleepy time gas by your friends in no fun but I also agreed with Rache and Ivy that giving the circumstances it was a necessary precaution. Now would you please tell us how in Tinks name did Kist because a were??” Jenks said to his adopted son.  
After he told us everything that has happened over the weekend, I turn to my lover and with a glance we decide it take the rest of this conversation into the Crypt proper. I'm still amazed after all this time how in-synch we are. While our rings allow us to speak speak mind to mind, most of the time we don't need to use their magic to know what the other is thinking.  
As she goes to unseal the door to the Crypt, I go over, pick up our beloved son, carry him in and then go back for David. After we're all inside and Rachel has resealed the Crypt, she pours a bucket of saltwater on David to break the spell and sets a towel next to him.  
“What the? Rachel, Ivy?” David says once he sees us. “Great I'm all wet. Was it REALLY necessary to knock us out? ”  
Rachel and I lock eyes for the briefest of moments and once again with a simple look we decide have her handle the explain this all to David, since he is her Alpha. 'God I love this woman! We complete each other so well.'  
“Yes we believe it was necessary and if make you feel any better JeJ wasn't any happier than you are. But you are handling it SO much better than he did.” she says and winks at the pixie-were  
“First off Ivy and I would like to thank you for keeping what happening with Kist a secret and meeting us here.”  
“Of course, you know much you ALL mean to me.” Looking around he asks “So were are we exactly?”  
“We're in the crypt underneath the Church.”   
“I don't ever remember you all mentioning a crypt back when you two lived here.”  
“That's because we didn't know it was here. Turns out it's entrance was buried beneath the living room. We found it while we were sorting through the ruble (After Cormel's people firebombed the church) to see what could be salvaged. Once got inside we discovered that there was a reason why Pierce had been buried here, turns out this was his base of operations. We found his journals, spell books, magical artifacts and some personal effects down here.”   
“But getting back to why we're here. JeJ said something about you having problems with the Focus?”  
“Not really a problem, when I tried to help him shift back to human form  
It still kinda weirds me out that David is sharing his brain with sentient demon artifact, but he still seems fine even after all these years with it.  
“What sort of connection?” my lover asks wearily  
“A sense that Kist has a piece of Focus magic in him, similar to Serena and Kali.”  
Before I'm even aware of if I start to growl at David. HOW DARE HE TURN MY SON INTO A WERE! Wow where had that come from? I've not had an incident like that is years. It seems that as soon as those thoughts cross my mind my dear heart gently squeezes my hand, she'd sensed it thought our bond amplified by the rings she made for us, and is telling me it's ok.  
“I examined him and it feels much more like a natural were than a turned were are you saying that somehow the Focus turned him without your knowledge?” my lover asks just a touch of bite  
“NO” David says firmly “Gus and I's best guess is that either some of the Focus magic used to change people to were's was left in you when the demon took it out or your own magic essentially copied it. That's why he seems more like a natural were vs a turned were because he's been a were since birth. That makes him essentially a first generation were and according to our legends everyone of those first generation were's were Alpha's. Those same legends bestow upon them all sorts of powers, everything I can do with the Focus and more.”  
“That actually fits with my own thoughts, unfortunately Minias is dead so we can't ask him but deals with Demons almost never work out the way you want them to. But why didn't sense it before now?”  
“Well you probably don't know this but until the change comes upon them a were children are indistinguishable from human children. No one really knows why but our best guess is that the were magic allows us to change is dormant until puberty starts.”  
“Ok that makes a certain amount of sense. I'm assuming since you showed up here with Kist in wolf form there is some issue with getting him to change back?”  
“I think part of the problem was that the pack was running around in wolf form and so his instincts were to also be in wolf form. If he doesn't change back on his own now that he's back with you two. I can guide him through the process, with your alls help. But before we do that there is something I'd like to ask you both.”  
“OK, what is it?” We ask  
“I'd like to name Kist my heir and start training him to eventually take over for me and to be the holder of the Focus. I'm not planning on this happening anytime in the near future but it's something I have to be thinking about.”  
“NO! I won't let you take MY son away from ME!!” I shout at David and without even realizing it I've pick him up by through and pinned him against the wall with my fangs bared at him.   
“Ivy, Beloved” my lover, my dear heart, my scion, the other half of my soul says to me “David isn't going to Kist away from us, he was simply asking us a question. He doesn't know otherwise I'm sure he wouldn't have asked. Please just set him down, he's our friend and our son godfather. He would never do anything to hurt Kist.” with her soft gentle hand on my arm and her reassuring love coating me through our bond, I come back to myself ashamed of what I almost did. I've not had anything like this happen since before Rachel and I finally got together.  
“Tinks a Disney Whore!! What's gotten into you Ivy?” Jenks exclaims  
“I'm sorry David, I don't know what came over me.” I say unable to meet anyone's eyes  
“cough, cough, It's ok Ivy. I understand your very protective of Kist.” David says raspily  
“David are you ok?” Rachel askes softly  
“I'll be ok, just give me a few moments.” He say sounding a little better  
“Good...David I'm going to tell you something that only one other person outside of this room knows. It will I hope help explain our what must seem like extreme measures we've taken with secrecy, the reason Kist were'd so oddly and Ivy's reaction to you asking to name Kist your heir. It's extremely important for you to NEVER reveal this to ANYONE and to never bring it up with us except in the most extreme circumstances.” my lover says   
“David what Rachel is trying to say without offending you, is that I will literally kill you if you even accidentally revealed this to ANYONE that includes Serena and Kally. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic especially with what just happen but this secret is THAT important to us. Neither Rachel's family nor mine know this secret it's that important to us. So if you’d rather not cross the particular Rubicon, speak now or forever hold your peace.” I say finally meeting his eyes  
“OK” he states cautiously “I understand.”  
“Well first then you need to know is that Kist, isn’t a human, he’s a vampire.”  
“A vampire, wait wait what?? How??”  
“He’s Kisten Felps and Ivy’s biological son.”  
“But Kisten..”  
“This will probably go quicker if Rachel lays it all out for you from the beginning and then you ask any questions at the end.” I say interrupting, knowing if I leave it completely up my lover she’ll stop to answer every small question David has along the way.  
“Ok that’s probably a good idea. It’ll allow me to process everything better.” He states  
“I’m not sure how much you know about living vampire bloodlines but they’re managed by the master vampires with the same care people take with thoroughbred horses. So Ivy and Kisten were betrothed as kids with the expectation that they would eventually get married and have kids. While they loved each other very much, it wasn’t really a true romantic love.” As my Dear Heart says this she gives my hand a squeeze.  
“However her mom has long been pressuring her to provide another Tamwood heir especially after she quit the IS and I moved into the church. After I found the information on Trent’s biolabs, my Ivy seeing the extent of elven genetic research decided to do some long term planning, surprising huh?” she says and winks at me    
“Anyway she talked Kisten into providing genetic samples so that if something were to happen to him, she could still provide a Tamwood heir.  They of course keep all of this a secret from their friends and family.  For lots of different reasons she never felt the time was right to have a child.  A few months after I finally was able to get over myself and realized I was in love with Ivy, I got a visit from Crissie Felps, Kisten’s sister.  Turns out he left a letter for me with her and instructions to give it to me if had died his first death, without fathering a child for Ivy and if I had finally got over myself and realized I loved Ivy and we were together. In it he tells me about Ivy’s backup plan and that if we ever decided to have child, that he would love for us to have his. That way a part of him would be with his two great loves.” This time I give her hand a gentle squeeze of support and even after all these years we both still get a little misty eyed.  
“After a very a lengthy discussion and several month, we decided we wanted to do it.  My Ivy suggested a way that our child to truly be part of both of us, would be for me to carry him to term since genetically he would be Ivy’s.  Knowing that we wanted to keep this a secret at least until the first trimester was over and know we’d need an accomplished physician and geneticist that could keep a secret.  So we contacted Trent, by this time he had become a father and an ally.  Seeing the way he was with Lucy and Ray, I just felt that we could trust him.”  
“I on the other hand had very logical reasons for trusting him.” I said with a little smirk  
“Aaaannnyyyyway” she says grinning at me “our plan was to wait until after the first trimester and make the announcement to Ivy’s family and then to the vampire community.  But then Cormel decides I’ve done too many miraculous things and he’s tired of waiting for his soul.  You’d think master vampires being undead would be more patient, but they’re not.  He decides to have her killed, to force me to put everything I have into finding a way to bind her soul to her undead body. Well you know how well that worked out for him.”   
“As I’m sure you remember, his death kicked of our very own little vamp cold war, with the various factions vying for control but refraining, just barely at times, from an all out street war. Instead the order of the day was theft, spying, vandalism, sabotage, extortion, numerous 'convenient accidents' and kidnapping. That last one scared us the most”  
“That's why he can't be your heir and eventually take the Focus, he's already the Tamwood heir and will one day hopefully many many years from now become the Master of Cincinnati.”  
“Yes and neither the Vampiers, nor the Were's would accept Kist if they were to find out he's technically a hyprid.” I add assuredly   
“If he's your and Kisten biological son, why doesn't he look anything like either of them?”  
“His ring contains and earth magic disguise charm, that is literally skin deep.”  
“Ok so how can he perform any magic?” he asks bewilderingly   
“Well that's a very good question and to be honest it's much like how he can were, all we have is a theory.” Rachel says  
“Ok so what's your theory then?”  
“I was carrying Kist when Cormel came after my Ivy, when I saw she lying there I kinda of lost it. I remember reaching inside and putting a bubble around Kist's soul and tiny mind like I do when I travel the lines. Then I reached for a line and let it flow into me until I felt I couldn't hold anymore, then I reached for another line pulled even more into myself, and then third line it's at that point that my conscious memories stop. From everything I've seen and heard I was radiating line energy, so I believe that his little body was saturated with line energy and that activated some long dormant elf dna or his body continued to absorb line energy while in my womb and it will eventually run out or somehow something else happened and he'll essentially be a Vamp/Were/Witch. Any other questions?”  
“A few minor ones.”  
“Ask away”  
“Alright, the house next door there was a faint smell of burnt amber but I didn't smell you over there...”  
“That's Winona house, remember her from back the HAPA incident?”  
I look over at my lover and give her a disapproving look, she took so many stupid chances during that case we almost her because of them.  
“Yes, I do now that you mention it, but didn't you changer her back to a witch?”  
“Well yes and no. HAPA changed her at the genetic level and I simply made cosmetic changes. She told me that being 'human' didn't 'feel' right anymore. I started to train her as my apprentice and she started to tweek her appearance back towards what HAPA did to her. But she was more interested in research, than being a runner so I asked her to be my research assistant and we set her up here.”  
“Last time I saw the Church it was a burned out husk, when did you all rebuild?”  
“Even though we'd decided we needed to live at the Tamwood Estate, we knew we had to rebuild as much of a symbol as anything else. So after Ivy convinced Jenks and I to allow her pay for it, we all started working on a plan to not only rebuild but make it bigger and better.”  
“There will be time to fill you in on all of this later but now I think we're all convinced there is nothing to do but wake Kist up and see if he will change back on his own. If not then see if we can help him do so.”  
“Ewww, I hate the smell of wet dog!” JeJ and Jenks both quip  
Rachel and I both shoot them both a dirty look, David just lets out a long sigh  
“Well, let's get on with it” I say and pick up the bucket of salt water and carefully pour it all over our son. As he comes to, he actually shakes to dry himself off getting water all over us.  
“Kisten!!” Rachel and I both shout  
Jenks and JeJ are just laughing there little pixie buts off, since they were able to use the rest of us as shield and so are perfectly dry.   
“Kist sweetie, do you think you can shift back to human form?”  
A shake of his head this it the first time I've really just stopped to look at him in wolf form, his coat is the same ebony shade as my own hair, his eyes are twin pools of limits black but with no hint of the intense emotion mine normally carried when they looked like that. He's such a beautiful wolf, it makes me wonder what he looks like now without the disguise charm, we've forced him to wear all these years. Rachel reaches down and holds his paw, the once with his ring on it and reaches over to hold my hand before taking a deep breath and reaching into our sons mind.  
“Kist, sweetie” we say in unison  
“Hey Moms, I can were! This is so cool!” he says with such enthusiasm  
“Yeah it is but that's something we're going to need to discuss a little later” I say   
“Kist, would you try and shift for me” Rachel asks  
“I've been trying. I can feel like I can but something just won't click. Uncle David said I should visualize my normal form and then desire to be that and that's what I've been trying to do.”  
“Ok but please try again so we can feel whats going on also.”  
“Sure, I knew as soon as Uncle David and JeJ said we were coming here that very thing would be alright. This is were you do all your big magic.”  
“Yes it is, now please try to shift for us.”  
“OK”  
I can see the image of himself that he's trying to shift to and instantly we know why he's having trouble shifting. We've never told him that he's actually my biological son and that he's a vampire, he's never seen his own true face. If he's shifting because of puberty then before very long his vampire instincts will kick in.   
“Kist sweetie, you need to try and imagine this, I project an image of what he looks like without the disguise charm.”  
“That kinda looks like me but it's not. Why would I try and shift to that image?”  
“Just try please” Rachel says tenderly  
“OK” with that we can see him visualize his true self and next thing we know he's back in human form and for the briefest instant, I can he his true face before the charm kicks in.  
“uh moms why did I have to visualize another form to shift?” Kist ask warily   
“We'll discuss it in a little bit, first thank your uncle David for bring you home and then say good-bye we have a lot to discuss before we go home.”  
\--------------------------------Meanwhile back at the Tamwood Estates-------------------------------  
Ring Ring Ring  
“Hello?”  
“Yes, May I speak with Ivy or Alisha Tamwood please”  
“I'm sorry they're indisposed at the moment, may I ask who calling and in regards to what matter?”  
“Yes this is Wang Fang, I'm calling on behalf of Tam Li. She is planning a visit to your country and would like to schedule a visit with her great-grand descendants.


End file.
